How old is Cedric Lodge? Harvard Medical School morgue manager faces charges after allegedly selling body parts and human remains

Cedric Lodge, the 55-year-old manager of Harvard Medical School’s morgue, is currently facing charges for allegedly selling and shipping body parts from human corpses. According to a federal indictment, Cedric stole dissected parts of donated corpses, including brains, heads, bones, skin, and other human remains, without the permission or knowledge of the school.

The former morgue manager was accused of removing those stolen remains from the morgue in Boston and transporting them to his house in Goffstown, New Hampshire, before selling them online. The indictment was filed on Tuesday, June 13, in the US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Six people were charged with theft and trafficking of human body parts. (Image via Twitter/@GrammyC4Zone)

The indictment was released on Wednesday, June 14, and Cedric’s wife, Denise, along with two alleged buyers, Joshua Taylor, 46, from West Lawn, and Katrina MacLean, 44, from Salem, was charged. Both Cedric and his wife appeared in Concord’s federal court in New Hampshire on Wednesday afternoon. The 55-year-old did not say anything while leaving the court.

Two other people, 41-year-old Jeremy Pauley from Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, and 52-year-old Mathew Lampi from East Bethel, Minnesota, were also charged in the investigation. Candace Chapman Scott, a resident of Little Rock, Arkansas, was also indicted earlier. She had been charged with stealing and selling human body parts from a crematorium and a mortuary.

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Cedric Lodge also let buyers into Harvard Medical School's morgue

Katrina MacLean, who appeared in Boston’s federal court on the same day, was charged with transporting stolen goods outside state lines. The maximum sentence for this crime is 10 years. However, the judge let her go since this was a non-violent offense.

However, MacLean would have to report to Pennsylvania’s court. She was seen wiping away her tears when she was told that she could go home. MacLean also did not say anything while leaving court, and her attorney also refused to comment.

Katrina MacLean owns a store called "Kat’s Creepy Creations" in Peabody, Massachusetts. The FBI searched her store and her home in Salem back in March after receiving tips about Katrina storing human remains at her shop. Jennifer Coffindafer, a former FBI agent, said:

"They would have had a search warrant and specifically they would have had information that gave it probable cause to believe this activity was going on. So, they would be looking specifically for a body part, human remains, obviously."

Prosecutors said that Katrina MacLean, Joshua Taylor, and both Cedric and Denise Lodge took the human remains from the morgue at Harvard Medical School and took them to Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. They continued doing this from 2018 to August 2022.

The prosecutors further added that the former morgue manager of Harvard Medical School allegedly let Katrina MacLean, Joshua Taylor, and other buyers into the morgue sometimes to choose what body parts they wanted to buy.

In one instance, Katrina MacLean agreed to buy two dissected faces from Cedric Lodge for $600 in October 2020. Investigators claimed that Katrina also shipped human skin to Jeremy Pauley in Pennsylvania in 2021 and asked for his services to tan the skin for leather.

As stated in the criminal complaint, Joshua Taylor sent Denise Lodge more than $37,000 to pay for the dead human body parts that Cedric Lodge stole from the morgue at Harvard Medical School. It also stated that the object of this conspiracy was to gain profit from the interstate sale, purchase, and shipment of stolen human remains.

Harvard Medical School is appalled by the disturbing incident. (Image via Twitter/@LaurenLee_915)

Harvard Medical School called these accusations against Cedric Lodge “morally reprehensible." George Daley, the Faculty of Medicine’s Dean, and Edward Hundert, the Dean for Medical Education, said they were appalled to learn about something so disturbing happening on their campus.

They added that the reported incidents were a betrayal of the school and, most importantly, of the individuals who chose to donate their bodies to Harvard Medical School for the advancement of medical education and research.